HBO documentary on Newburgh terrorism case to air

Tuesday

May 6, 2014 at 2:00 AMMay 6, 2014 at 8:22 AM

CITY OF NEWBURGH — Four Newburgh men convicted of trying to bomb two synagogues and fire Stinger missiles at Stewart Air National Guard Base are seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of their case, now the subject of documentary to air on HBO.

Leonard Sparks

CITY OF NEWBURGH — Four Newburgh men convicted of trying to bomb two synagogues and fire Stinger missiles at Stewart Air National Guard Base are seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of their case, now the subject of documentary to air on HBO.

Petitions were filed last month on behalf of James Cromitie, Laguerre Payen, David Williams and Onta Williams, the "Newburgh Four." Each was convicted of terrorism charges in a sting orchestrated by an FBI informant assigned to a mosque in Newburgh.

A panel of federal appeals judges upheld the convictions in August, rejecting defense claims that the men were victims of entrapment.

But one judge sided with Cromitie, calling him a "comically incompetent" victim who would not have been involved if not for a "badgering" informant who promised $250,000, an expensive car and other inducements. "If he had been left alone "» he never in a million years would have thought of this kind of criminal activity, let alone know how to bring it out," said Clinton Calhoun III, attorney for Cromitie.

In October 2010, a federal jury found Cromitie, Laguerre Payen, David Williams and Onta Williams guilty of terrorism charges. Each received 25 years in prison.

Their convictions capped a case that began in 2008 when Cromitie struck up a conversation with Shahed Hussain at Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque. Hussain was a convicted felon who worked with the FBI to avoid deportation to Pakistan.

Prosecutors accused Cromitie of creating the plot with Hussain and recruiting Payen, David Williams and Onta Williams as co-conspirators.

Federal agents arrested the men on May 20, 2009, after they planted fake bombs in cars outside a synagogue and a Jewish center in the Bronx.

Judge Dennis Jacobs of the three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the majority in rejecting entrapment claims for Payen and the two Williams.

A documentary about the case, "Newburgh Sting," premieres on HBO in July.